Two of the most revered and influential groups are Hoosier veterans and teachers. Both, in different ways, ensure continued prosperity.

I feel honored to have met so many in representing our community. These professions are held by some of the best and most noble Hoosiers, and I have diligently worked this session to introduce legislation that supports them.

The General Assembly is fighting back against Hoosier hunger. Currently one in six Hoosiers are food insecure, meaning there are over a million people in Indiana who do not know where their next meal will come from. This is far too many people who don’t have stability for a basic necessity. We can do more to help.

The man who invented the Etch A Sketch died last month. I never knew André Cassagnes’ name until I heard it on a radio news program last Monday, but he’s been living in my head all week. He died in his native France at the age of 86.

Cassagnes invented the drawing toy that became the Etch A Sketch in the 1950s and I don’t know of many people who haven’t had their hands on one of the flat red boxes with two white knobs.

Last week started in unique fashion as the House accepted the “Suits and Sneakers” challenge against cancer. Legislators and staff were asked to wear sneakers to show support for the Suits and Sneakers challenge, a cause that promotes awareness of living a healthy lifestyle.

We live in a caring community. That was evident Jan. 26 as a I left the Perry County 4-H fairgrounds carrying a pair of to-go chicken dinners. That day’s benefit for Zach Taylor drew hundreds of people to raise money for a young man and volunteer firefighter who is battling cancer.

Editor Vince Luecke’s Jan. 14 column concerning the winter blahs didn’t give much importance to the power of colors, especially orange and the winter blahs. That is where I can add something from Dr. Marx Luscher, a Swiss research psychiatrists’ color test, which I have used in teaching counseling psychology classes and with prison inmates.